


forest of roses at the bottom of the jungle

by karmannghiaburana



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, SHIRO GETS A FAMILY BECAUSE HE DESERVES TO BE LOVED, Sheithlentines 2019, Trans Keith (Voltron), Trans Male Character, Valentine's Day, Weddings, allura is alive because black women don't need to sacrifice themselves for others to be valid, blade of marmora, we can fix canon and make everyone happy goddammit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 21:31:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17947445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karmannghiaburana/pseuds/karmannghiaburana
Summary: Everything is precarious after the war ends. The Paladins have all gone their separate ways, planets come together and fall apart, life goes on. When Allura returns to New Altea the timeline shifts. The paladins come back together. Allura and Lance work on the future they dreamed of. Hunk gets to use all his talents to help the universe. Pidge and Matt travel between the Atlas and Naxzela for their research. And Shiro and Keith finally get to explore the universe.





	forest of roses at the bottom of the jungle

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lunarium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/gifts).



> Deja, oh mi amada, las paredes mudas  
> De esta casa ahoyada y ven conmigo  
> No al mar que bate y ruge sino al bosque  
> De rosas que hay al fondo de la selva.  
> This is the human struggle: the tremendous  
> Battle of helmets and lillies!  
> …  
> Oh my beloved, leave the walls  
> Of this lonely house and come with me  
> Not to the sea that beats and roars, but the forest  
> Of roses at the bottom of the jungle.  
> -Jose Marti, from his poem Bosque de Rosas

**_TWO YEARS AFTER THE WAR - NEW ALTEA_ **

When Lance was a boy he loved starfish. One of his earliest memories was visiting his cousins near the ocean and wading in the shallows to pick up prickly sea stars. Amidst the warmth of the sand, and the warmth in his heart, he remembered sitting on a towel as his mother was telling him that every shooting star landed in the ocean and washed up on the shore. When he returned home to his family’s farm he stared out his window for hours every night waiting to see a falling star. The minute he saw one go by he threw open his window, jumped out onto the ground and raced after it through the fields. It landed too far away for him to catch, but he promised himself he would catch one eventually. _Catch me, Lance, I’ll be there soon_ , the star would taunt him in his dreams. That night he dreamed of a star falling right in his backyard. He supposed his love of the ocean had been his first inspiration to chase the stars.

After the war ended and the lions left life seemed stagnant. It felt hard to recapture that desire to leap into the wild unknown and chase after stars. Every paladin had gone their separate way, they spoke when they could, saw each other once a year on the anniversary of Allura’s disappearance. Beyond the real measurable distance between each paladin, there seemed an unbridgeable disconnect between who they had been and who they were. Lance would never wish to go back, but sometimes he missed it. He had spent the worst and best years of his life with these people as his closest friends, rarely more than a couple floors away from him if he wanted to see them, even just to hang out quietly minding their own tablets.

Lance found himself repeatedly stopping the middle of some task, turning to tell someone a joke or make an observation only to find the space empty. Growing up surrounded by brothers, sisters, and cousins, then spending the better part of his teens with the paladins, nothing had prepared him for how empty he would feel when he needed to strike out on his own. _In addition to which_ , Lance mused, _being alone is a complete waste of_ _my sarcastic wit!_

At least Lance had a clear goal, he knew what projects he needed to work on and he did them. Very well, he might add. He and Colleen had worked together for months coming up with a sustainable agricultural model for New Altea, and Hunk was still working with him to export their work to other planets. When he wasn’t helping with that he was consulting with Coran on the formation of the New Altean Parliament, or working on what felt like one of the ten-thousand different educational outreach curricula Coran had asked him to help draft. He was busy.

Lance wouldn’t say he was avoiding processing the end of the war, he just never had time. And even if he did have time what was he going to do? He couldn’t even begin to understand it, none of it made any sense. He was living on a planet that had been destroyed ten thousand year ago but magically brought back by resetting the entire multiverse. _The multiverse is real, I guess,_ Lance thought. He was an alien now, apparently? And Allura was gone. After everything it felt like a slap in the face. With no explanation she left them. Lance still dreamed about her, more and more. She was always reaching out, trying to speak to him. He assumed it was his mind trying to provide answers, he still hadn’t come up with anything.

Lance started to hear her voice occasionally during the day as well. He didn’t think much of it. Sure, it was wildly unfair to feel like his mind was unraveling at the early age of twenty two, but all experiences to be considered it was bound to happen at some point. Plus, he rationalised, it would make for a dramatically poetic memoir that will no doubt be much more dramatic and poetic than all of the other other paladins’ memoirs. And really what more can a man hope for but to be memorialised in tragic prose? Lance chuckled at his own dark line of thinking. _Okay_ , he promises himself, _if it starts to mess with my ability to get stuff done I’ll tell Hunk_. It didn’t impact his work, he didn’t tell Hunk. The hallucinations might not have impacted his work but they did get more vivid. Sometimes he swore he could catch a glimpse of her hair as he turned. Sometimes he swore he could smell her standing right beside him, but no, he rationalised, it was probably just some nearby juniberries in the breeze.

Three months into this Lance found himself on the balcony of his room, it was well-past midnight but between anxiety over the work to be done and the ever present spectral glimpses of Allura that had been haunting him with increasing frequency, he found himself staring out over the edge of New Altea’s capital where it bled into farmlands trying to empy his mind. Allura had recovered her home planet, but the only people left to inhabit it were the surviving Altean refugees from Honerva’s experiments. It was a small enough population the even in the capital the light pollution wasn’t so bad that you couldn’t see the stars. Lance’s apartment sat at the periphery, his view of the stars was almost perfect. It helped clear his mind to look out at the endless void and it’s tiny twinkling inhabitants. Somewhere, way out there his friends were busy trying to make the universe a better place. Somewhere beyond even that his family sat safe on Earth for the first time in years.

Tonight he didn’t see the slow passage of either of the research stations in orbit above the planet. Just the stars and planets, and the occasional zoom of satellites passing as they recorded information for the New Altean University research and development labs. As the night wound down a meteor shower began, tiny bits of rock collided brilliantly with the atmosphere. Lance had zoned out when Hunk and Pidge tried to explain which elements were responsible for certain colours that appeared in the comets’ fiery tails. It was irrelevant, he could appreciate the multicoloured star shower without knowing the exact trajectory and chemical content of each piece of debris.

One of the meteors seemed brighter than the rest, its flight pattern erratic and irregular as it zigzagged across the sky. All at once it seemed to notice Lance watching, suddenly holding its position as if watching back.

 _Maybe I really am going crazy_ , Lance thought, _or maybe this is just a really weird dream_.

The star began to descend slowly into the field below. Lance watched only a moment longer before his feet carried him down to the street and he ran to meet the mysterious entity. Best case scenario, he was going crazy and would end up in an empty field, worst case scenario a creepy space ghost was haunting him and would lead him to an untimely death in a cave or some sort of bog. _Still_ , Lance thought, _a more dramatic ending to his memoirs than any of the other paladins could hope for_.

He didn’t even stop to toe on his shoes, instead he winced as he crunched gravel under his feet in the streets just past his apartment. He rushed forward, the gravel gave way to soft earth as he followed the winding raised berms between fields. The light breeze whipped the grasses along the path into a frenzy and they nipped at his heels with every step. The closer he got to the celestial body the calmer the winds became. There seemed to be a hush in the area around it. As he made his final approach it appeared to become brighter still, until he had to keep his eyes trained to the ground.

His pace slowed and he walked down into the field over which the light now hovered. He held up his hand and peeked through his fingers trying to get a glimpse at whatever it was. This close he could feel the heat of the entity, he knew it had to be real. None of the Altean early warning systems had been triggered, he figured it couldn’t be hostile, or if it was, it was so advanced they wouldn’t stand a chance against it anyway. The light faded slightly and he could see a humanoid figure at the centre.

Lance didn’t dare to hope. But still he thought of the stars in his dreams as child, and the spectre of Allura that had haunted him recently. _Catch me, Lance, I’ll be there soon_. Suddenly he knew, it had to be her. He ran the final paces and caught her as she plummeted the final distance. There wasn’t a doubt. Her long white hair cascaded down her back, Lance could feel the tight curls where the fell against his arm.

Allura peered up him, she looked exhausted but she mustered a drowsy smile. Lifting her hand up she cupped his cheek, “You caught me, Lance.”

“How?” Was he could think to respond.

“I’ll tell you all about my travels later, for now I need to rest,” she assured him before tucking herself into his shoulder a dozing off.

Lance didn’t move, if this was a dream or an illusion he didn’t want to break the spell. He sat there for what felt like hours. Determined to prove to himself that this was real, he tightened his grip on Allura and stood, carrying her back to the apartment. It was closer than the Altean University Hospital, he could call Coran when he got there, call the others. He could light a thousand candles to every deity in the universe to thank them for bringing back his love.

\--

“Lance, this sounds like you’re grabbing my leg,” Allura sounded unimpressed.

“Pulling your leg, Allura,” Lance corrected, “and I’m not. There was really a dude called Valentine who was helping people get married when it was like, illegal or something. I don’t really remember it’s been a while since my mom told me the story. But anyway that’s why we give people chocolate.”

“How strange,” Allura mumbled.

“Keith, tell her I’m not lying,” Lance insisted.

“Hm, what?”

“He’s not paying attention,” Hunk answered on Keith’s behalf, “But Lance is sort of right. Just this once though.”

"Hey!" Lance cried indignantly.

"Am I wrong?" Hunk quirked a brow.

“Keith is very busy moping cos Shiro couldn’t get time off,” Matt quipped, “But don’t worry, Princess, I am here for you in his stead.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game, dude,” Lance warned, only slightly jokingly.

“I don’t know, Lance, you still haven’t brought my this ‘Vatelines Chocolate’, maybe I want to see what Matt has to offer?”

“Sorry buddy, looks like I gotta kick your ass now,” Lance started. He turned to Allura, “And then get you all the _Valentine’s_ chocolate you want. And something sparkly!”

Allura tapped her chin as if considering the offer, “I have been waiting for something sparkly for quite some time now. I could be amenable to your terms.”

Keith, unfazed by romantic display before him turned to Matt, “What about that AI you were seeing?”

“Totally open,” Matt assured.

“For crying out loud,” came Pidge’s exasperated exclamation. “Can you stop trying to sleep with every alien you meet for five seconds? At least while I’m in the room!”

“Are we talking about Allura or Keith?” Matt prodded with the express intention of riling Pidge up even more.

Pidge’s hand landed in her hands as she sighed, “There is no mercy in this universe.”

Sensing a need for a topic change Coran spoke up, “So, Princess, how did you make it back to us?”

What followed was a complex story that seemed to feature more math than strictly necessary for something so mystical, in Lance’s honest and unbiased opinion.

“So the Goddess of the Universe, brought you back because there wasn’t enough matter in the universe?” Lance seemed confused.

“Not quite,” Allura hedged in a voice that indicated Lance’s conclusion was on the opposite side of the universe from correct.

“Well we don’t really understand, but we’re happy to have you back,” Coran said, “Truly, I was so worried that I had lost my only daughter.”

“Oh come one, Coran, you’re gonna make us all cry,” Hunk complained, crying. “I gotta go scrounge us up some lunch before I start bawling, who’s with me?”

No one was in a hurry to leave Allura’s side so Keith offered to accompany Hunk and bring food back for everyone. The two made their way to the main mess hall for the University Hospital. Krolia found them there, boxing up meals for the others.

“Any updates?” Krolia asked.

“She’s awake,” Keith answered, “She seems like herself, too. I just can’t help shaking this suspicion that something could be wrong.”

Krolia seemed surprised by this, “Why?”

“Why did she come back?” Keith returned.

“Well since no good reason was given for why she had to sacrifice herself I don’t see why we’re looking for a reason she had to come back?” Hunk quipped. “Maybe the universe was just nice this time?”

“Oh come on, when has the universe been nice to us,” Keith asked.

“Keith I think you underestimate how fundamental a force love can be in achieving our desired outcomes,” Krolia responded. She didn’t scold him but her tone held a corrective note, ass though she didn’t approve of him pessimism. “Love has been the motivating factor behind all the positive changes in the universe, observable or not. It lead me to your father, it lead you to the Lions, it helped you saved the universe, and it brought you to those you love. And I believe it brought Allura and Lance back together. The universe has a way of bringing back what we love.”

Hunk sensed a series of landmines all connected back to some ongoing conflict between Keith and his mom, a conflict he had no desire to engage with personally.

“All right, guys, looks like this is the last combo we needed, let’s go ahead and get these bad boys back to the rest of the crew before they start complaining,” Hunk urged.

The conflict seemed forgotten, both helped him carry the lunches back up to Allura’s room. Over lunch they discussed plans for the future. Allura was healing quickly and already wanted Lance to update her on everything happening on New Altea and across the sector. She was anxious to be involved with the peacemaking process taking place across the universe and seemed put out when Coran insisted she stay under observation at least a few more days. By the time everyone returned to their regular postings at the end of the week, Allura had already drafted eighteen greetings to nearby planetary leaders and begun planning diplomatic missions for the next six months. And for the first time since the war had ended, Lance felt like everything in the universe had fallen into place.

\--

**_THREE MONTHS LATER - ARIZONA, EARTH_ **

Shiro stared down at his tablet, on it lay the final piece of paperwork he was required to complete as the Captain of the Atlas before finally being allowed to take a short leave of absence to visit his family. When he left for Kerberos he had expected to return home in three years, nearing the end of his life. He had fought with his family about whether or not to take the posting and pilot the mission, he felt like he’d fought with just about everyone by the time launch day came around. Some part of him hoped by the time he’d made it back they would understand. It had been much more than three years now, the Galra occupation of Earth had wiped out almost two thirds of the population. Shiro hadn't been certain any of his family was still alive, let alone in a position to work through old hurt. Veronica of all people had done some digging and found his cousins on a list of the accounted for in a Seattle safehouse. He knew they'd at least lived through the beginning of the invasion. When he finally reached out he found them alive and in good spirits, happy to have him come visit as soon as he could.

So there he was, staring down at some paperwork. The last barrier between him a finally settling some of the burden’s he had let weigh him down for years now. Shiro considered himself a man of action, but action required careful planning for every outcome. And in this specific situation, despite his familiarity with all of the variables, it felt as though the data were beyond reconciliation. He had no idea what it would be like to see his family again. Uncertain thoughts going back and forth were pooling into an uneasy well of dread. Finally he a reached a point where he could ruminate no more, he signed his name to the last test reports and sent them to Iverson for review. He grabbed his rucksack and scanned the room one last time, wondering if there would be anything he needed. Deciding that after repacking ten times if there was anything he’d missed he could live without it, he marched out of his quarters on the Atlas and headed for the hanger deck.

In the hanger he saw a few vaguely familiar faces, counting his lucky stars that he'd avoided Veronica's questioning, he bid them farewell and headed to his pod. After he reached a safe cruising altitude he set the pod to autopilot, he would have only a few hours before he reached his destination but he needed the time to distract himself in order to avoid more time wasted in anxiety spirals. He settled on answering messages from his friends. He saw Pidge and Matt the most, both returned to conduct research in labs on the Atlas whenever they could. Pidge was currently working on a system update for the gravity generator, she had no updates to report just a short _Enjoy your vacation, dude… Captain… dude…_ Allura had returned to them a few months ago, and she was in regular contact with him about her project to create broad intergalactic peace institutions. Shiro privately felt it was ambitious to bring anything beyond a few sectors into a single political body but he’d helped her as much as could.

Hunk and Lance were both just shooting the breeze in the chat he shared with them. Hunk had posted no less than eight videos of the cat-like alien creature that had chosen to live in his garage, he claimed he had nothing better to do since it was the rainy season on the planet where he lived and no ships were stopping by for tune ups right now. Lance's messages demanded extensive updates on every aspect of their lives. Shiro hadn’t done much beyond paperwork since the last time Lance had asked, and he told Lance as much. Keith hadn’t sent him anything new, and he didn’t expect him to. They called each other regularly and talked for hours, but neither were really one for sending messages. Shiro sent him a quick update letting him know he might be out of contact for a while.

With nothing else to do he browsed through the books stored on his tablet. He had forgotten to avail himself of Pidge’s offer to fill his memory banks with new books and movies, instead he had the preset books from the Garrison curriculum. Sighing he opened up Huntington’s _The Soldier and the State_ hoping to find it more insightful than we’d he’d read it as a cadet. He couldn’t say he did, but it helped the final hours of his flight pass more quickly. Soon enough he disengaged autopilot and began landing procedures at the Seatac airfield, once he’d taxied into an open hanger he went to the main terminal to find his cousins.

Travel had been hectic in the months following the end of the invasion. In the midst of the recovery process people had been eager to find their friends and families and restart their lives in communities with the safety nets they needed. Since then travel had trickled to a stand still, most people were focusing on rebuilding their lives rather than thinking of exploring or vacationing, even domestically. The terminal was large, and seemed larger still as empty as it was. It wasn’t hard for Shiro to find his cousin. Her face was turned down to her tablet and partially obscured behind the two coffees she held, but he could recognise her anywhere. He suddenly felt his apprehension melt away, replaced by the pure joy of reuniting with someone who for years has been his closest friend and confidant.

“Miyu!” He yelled, running over.

She looked up slightly startled, but smiled when she saw him. “Kashi!”

He went to hug her but she held out a hand, laughing, “Slow down you gangly giant, you’ll spill coffee all over both of us.”

She set the coffees on the bar next to her and held her arms open. “Okay, we can hug now.”

Miyu felt smaller than when he’d left, a testament to how long it had been since they had last seen each other. He hadn’t thought he had any growing left to do when he left for Kerberos, but then, he’d be young and sick and it was the logical assumption at the time.

“Okay, giant, let’s get back to my car and drive home,” Miyu said as she stepped back.

She updated him on light topics as they walked out and drove away. Miyu had finally gotten funding for her orca repopulation project just before the invasion, the university was honouring her funding now and letting her move forth with her research in an attempt to regain some sense of normalcy. She had three dogs that had come from neighbours the Galra had killed. She assured him that for the most part the family had stayed safe. Aiyu, her sister and another close relative of Shiro’s, had even gotten married to the man who helped her start a ski school up at Stevens Pass. In return, Shiro tried to briefly summarise everything that had happened recently, banal though the experiences had been. Miyu insisted that they wait until Aiyu was present to delve deep into space stories.

“I will never hear the end of it, Kashi,” she said as she stepped down from the car. She turned back to Shiro as she lead him up the path leading to their grandfather’s old home. “Aiyu would hold it against me until the day we died. She would take all the good food at every Thanksgiving because ‘ _Remember that one time you got to hear all about Kashi’s space adventure and I didn’t_ ’. And then she would take the last roll, Kashi, and you know how much I love rolls.”

“You two are ridiculous,” Shiro laughed. “I missed you.”

“Gross,” Miyu joked, before returning seriously, “We missed you to, Takashi, a lot.”

Miyu spun to unlock the door and lead them inside. Shiro felt like he had walked back in time. Everything looked almost exactly as he remembered it from his childhood. The redwood cedar furniture still smelled just the same as the day he’d moved in with their grandfather. The oak floors were worn soft and shiny in the doorways. The great big windows along the walls let in the light that filtered down through the pines. In the living room he could look up to the breezeway between bedrooms. He remembered sitting on the other side of the banister with Miyu and Aiyu, throwing paper planes down into the great room below, even after his aunt had scolded them. His chest felt light, his breathing came a little easier. For the first time since he’d returned to Earth he felt like he was home.

“Welcome home,” Miyu said with a flare of her hands. “Your room is still your room, but I want you to know that Aiyu really wanted to steal it while you were on your way to Kerberos. Also it’s a little crowded cos the Garrison sent us a bunch of boxes of your stuff when they thought you were dead.”

“I’m sorry,” Shiro interjected.

“No worries, you’re alive now so it doesn’t matter,” Miyu shrugged. “While you get settled I’m gonna call Aiyu and bug her until she brings home dinner from our favourite spot in the lodge, what do you want?”

“Mac and cheese,” came Shiro’s rote reply. “Ooh, and an oreo milkshake!” He added.

Miyu just raised her eyebrows, “Kashi, you are lactose intolerant, why do you do this to yourself?”

“Not anymore, the aliens gave me a new body,” Shiro said, gesturing to himself with a smug expression. “I can eat whatever I want!”

Miyu looked unconvinced, “I don’t believe you for a minute, Takashi, the aliens can have you back. I’m calling Aiyu, go get ready, she’ll be home in like forty minutes. So you have a limited amount of prep time before she asks you ten thousand questions.”

Shiro chuckled to himself and he made his way to the stairs. He crossed the breezeway and made his way to the wing where he and his grandfather’s rooms had been. He slid the door open and clicked on the light. Unlike in the main room of the home where time had passed pleasantly, time here felt like it had been deliberately paused. The curtains were closed, and nothing had been touched since he’d last been here except for the addition of the boxes from the Garrison. A thick layer of dust sat over everything he had displayed, from his computer monitor to the medals he’d won as a pilot on Earth. It made him feel sad, like he had to chase away the ghost of his own past just to occupy the space.

Crossing the room, Shiro began by opening the blinds. He then walked over to the bed and sat his rucksack there. With nothing better to do he decided to sift through the boxes.

Some of it brought him pain, the first box had framed photos of him and Adam. One from a few weeks after they had first met after being assigned together as flight partners for the senior piloting programme. A photo from their first anniversary together. A photo one of their friend’s had snapped from when Adam had pinned Shiro’s wings to him for the first time. Some part of Shiro had always wanted closure with Adam. He didn’t want to go back, their relationship had run its course. But he wanted confirmation that it hadn’t been for nothing, he wanted Adam to tell him he understood why he had to go. And a charitable part of him wanted to see that Adam had moved on. Keith had forgiven Admiral Sanda for her actions during the invasion, he’d told them that Sanda believed she was doing what she had to do to save Earth. Shiro didn’t think he could forgive the Admiral himself, she had given to many of the final marching orders that sent his friends to certain death.

He tried to move to more pleasant thoughts as he continued to sift through the boxes. Old shirts he’d missed were recovered along with a few print books he’d loved, an old gaming handheld system he’d played with in his spare time. One of the boxes was filled  with Keith’s belongings, likely shipped later when Keith had been kicked out of the Garrison. Shiro had been listed as his only adult with access to Keith’s files, this home was likely the only permanent residence on Keith’s file for the box to be shipped to. Shiro resolved to return it to Keith, along with anything of Shiro’s that he might want.

Shiro returned down stairs when he heard the front door open and close, signalling the arrival of Aiyu and her husband.

“We brought dinner,” her voice called from the foyer.

“Well in that case I guess I’ll join you,” Shiro greeted.

Aiyu immediately handed her bags off to the man beside her and ran at Shiro.

“TAKA, YOU’RE BACK!!” She screamed as jumped on him. She caught her and spun her around. “Wow, did you get even taller while you were in space?”

“No you got smaller stuck here on Earth, gravity increased on only your body.”

“You’re so mean, Taka, put me down.”

Miyu hid her grin while Shiro returned Aiyu to her place on the ground.

“Dinner time?” Miyu prodded.

“Yeah, yeah,” Aiyu waved to the man next to her, “Taka, this is my husband, George. He has generously paid for dinner tonight.”

George waved.

They made their way to the dinner table. Aiyu’s questions came a mile a minute, Shiro’s head was spinning trying to keep up.

“So you flew directly into two black holes?” She asked.

“Well Keith was flying, and we went between the black holes to a planet,” Shiro began.

“Wait, is this the same Keith who used to follow you around at the Garrison all the time?” Miyu asked.

“Oh right? That kid that took over for me as your shadow while you were at school,” Aiyu recalled, “Not that I’m bitter or anything.”

“No one is replacing anyone, Aiyu,” Shiro assured, “And yes, same guy.”

“Aww that’s cute,” Aiyu sighed dramatically, “HE EVEN GOT TO GO TO SPACE WITH YOU BEFORE I DID?”

“Well if you wanted to fight a space war by all means,” Shiro answered back sarcastically.

“Am I still your favourite cousin,” Aiyu asked, theatrically weeping into her plate.

“How do you put up with her,” Miyu turned to George.

“I think she’s cute,” George said.

The rest of dinner passed in a similar fashion. Shiro would recount a bit of his adventures, editing anything too disturbing, Aiyu and Miyu, and occasionally George too, would intersperse questions or comments where they felt appropriate.

They settled into a routine for the next few days. Shiro went with Miyu to the coast near the Sound every other day, when he didn’t go to the coast he went skiing with Aiyu and George. In the evenings they all had meals together. After dinner more often than not the three cousins laid out in front of the fireplaces reminiscing about their childhood over sweets. By the end of his visit Shiro felt content, he had spent the perfect amount of time with his family. He packed his belongings back into his rucksack and grabbed the box of Keith’s things to return to him next time he returned to the Garrison. Miyu drove him back to the terminal and wished him a safe flight home.

“Come back anytime you want,” she said, “It’s your home too.”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised, “And I’ll try to talk the others into come by too.”

The vacation had served its primary purpose of reconnecting Shiro to his family, and its secondary purpose of reigniting Shiro’s determination to do his job. The second part proved problematic as there wasn’t much he could do at the Garrison. Most of the projects were focused on rebuilding Earth, and insofar as Shiro could help he did, but beyond paper pushing or manual labor there wasn’t much he could contribute. Earth was holding off on membership in any galaxy or sector-wide institutional membership until it could recover in it’s own right. There had been ongoing debate about whether or not seeking help from other planets might speed the process along, but a delicate balance between the two sides had been struck and no one wanted to disturb that.

For the most part Shiro returned to his role as a flight instructor at the Garrison, which gave him hours in the teacher lounge to be constantly harangued by Veronica rather than making any progress on the books Pidge had so graciously transferred to his tablet. She was almost as bad as her brother when it came to seeking out gossip.

“The Blade of Marmora are coming back,” Veronica began, “They’re sending a permanent delegation as diplomatic representation on Earth and on galaxy faring ships _like the Atlas for instance_.”

“Thank you for that information, Veronica,” came Shiro’s dry reply.

“Wow!” Veronica feigned hurt. “You can’t even pretend to be happy that my girlfriend is gonna be here now?”

“You’re seeing a member of the Blade of Marmora?” Shiro questioned. He tried to think of members he knew, but nothing connected.

Veronica gave him and incredulous once over to assure herself he was being serious. “Shiro, I have been seeing Acxa since she joined our crew.”

“I thought she and Keith had something going on,” Shiro insisted.

“Keith is gay, so no that definitely never was a thing,” Veronica continued.

“What?”

Veronica quickly snapped a picture on her tablet, “I’m making this your contact photo and also sending it to my group chat. I’ve never seen you look so dumb. How could you not know Keith was gay, aren’t you like his best friend or something?”

“I don’t know Veronica, it never seemed like a relevant conversation to have while fighting and ten thousand year old evil space empire!” Shiro tried to defend himself. “ _Hey, Keith, fuck any dude aliens recently?_ ”

“ _Paging Lieutenant McClain, and Ensigns Griffin, Rizavi, Kinkade, Leifsdottir. Report the MFE hangar immediately._ ” Came Lieutenant Curtis’s voice over the intercom.

“Duty calls, Captain,” Veronica saluted him with a wink. “But heads up, in case Keith hasn’t told you, the Marmora crew will be rollin in tonight.”

Announcement repeated as Veronica zoomed out of the lounge. Beyond the glass wall Shiro witnessed her nearly colliding with an unimpressed lieutenant commander. Shiro smirked and tried to return to his reading but found himself too distracted by the prospect of a visit from the Blade of Marmora. Resigning himself to leaving _Anna Karenina_ in the midst of her tumultuous affair, he shut off his tablet’s screen and returned to his quarters. He was done with teaching for the day, so he busied himself with little tasks. When he’d finished his laundry, cleaned every surfacer spotless, and scrubbed the mirror so clear it looked like an opening to a parallel universe, he forced himself to sit on the couch and watch TV until the delegation arrives. There were only three channels on Earth so far, Shiro settled on a documentary on channel three about alien flowers growing on earth. He let his mind wander and soon enough he found himself catching up on some much needed rest.

When he woke he heard the sounds of shuffling in another room. His mind was sent reeling, he had no idea who would want to harm him. As far as he knew all the remaining Galra combatants on Earth had been tried and sent to prisons off-planet. Who then could be in his private quarters now, and what did they want from him. Immediately on alert Shiro evened his breathing, hoping the intruder hadn’t noticed he was awake. He listened for a moment longer. The intruder was in his bedroom now, he could get up and chase after him. No, Shiro decided, he had no way of knowing if the intruder was armed, better to wait until he came back into his line of sight to assess the situation fully.

Soon enough Shiro got his wish but from what he could tell, peeking out into the dark from between surreptitiously cracked eyelids, the alien was an amorphous blob with tiny legs. He didn’t what that meant in terms of it’s combat capability. The blob was getting closer, Shiro closed his eyes hoping to maintain his cover long enough to strike out, if he got the first hit in he might be able to maintain the advantage. Something dropped on him and he shot up in confusion. His panic was brief, once his eyes were open he found himself face to face with Keith, who he assumed had just dumped his comforter on top of him.

“Keith?” Shiro wanted to check.

“Sorry, Shiro, I didn’t mean to freak you out,” Keith started. “We arrived late and when I came to see you, you were already asleep so I wanted to get you a blanket.”

“I thought you were an evil blob alien here to attack me,” came Shiro’s smooth reply.

Keith looked utterly confused. “What?”

Shiro started to laugh so hard he could barely breathe, “I thought you were an alien intruder, I don’t know…”

Keith didn’t seem to find this funny, “Have there been attacks on you again?”

“No, Keith, everything is fine, too fine, it’s boring,” Shiro assured him. Keith didn’t seem fully convinced.

Shiro stretched and stood up, he walked over to the little kitchen the Atlas had given him. “You want anything, tea? Coffee? A snack?”

Keith followed behind him, “I could go for a snack. I missed Earth food.”

“You are in for a treat,” Shiro reached into a cabinet and pulled out his most prized possession, “You are looking at what has got to be the last can of sour cream and onion Pringles on Earth.”

“No way!” Keith gasped. “These are my favourite, dad used to let me get them when we went into town together.”

Shiro was pleased to bring Keith so much joy over something so small. He handed over the canister and moved over to make himself some tea. After they had collected their respective beverages and snacks they headed back to Shiro’s bedroom to catch up. They sat side by side on the mattress, snacks beside them, laughing while Keith explained the jello-like entities he had just come from meeting with. Shiro found himself ever grateful for their ability to pick up in their friendship wherever they left off without a hitch.

Over the course of the next week Shiro and Keith helped the Blade operatives adjust to their roles on Earth and in the various ships where they were to be stationed. The Blades had no problem assimilating into the Garrison, the Garrison members however struggled to accept these Galra as peers and colleagues rather than enemies. Over the course of two months the two former paladins spent most of their time working on alien sensitivity training classes for the Garrison rather than doing the work they had wanted to do. In the small scale they new they were helping. They were integrating Earth into the broader universe, alien cross-cultural education it was a necessary pain. But both felt their impact so indirect that they found themselves wanting to pull their hair out at the end of the day.

When the final assessment of the initial trial of integrating Blade member Galra into the Garrison was complete Keith pulled Shiro aside.

“Mom wanted me to head this programme as a senior Blade because she said I was _losing contact with my Earth roots_ ,” Keith said in air quotes.

“You’ve always been a little alien, Keith,” said Shiro. “Even before we knew you were actually an alien. It’s okay, it suits you, it doesn’t make you any less human.”

Keith paused and looked up into Shiro’s eyes, “Thank you, Shiro. That means a lot to me.”

There was a pause where either of them could have made the next step, both held back. Keith stepped in to Shiro’s space, pulling up his tablet.

“Now that I’m done with this programme on Earth, I can leave again,” Keith pulled up a list of other missions that needed to be fulfilled. “There’s all these places that need help. We could go anywhere next, if you want?”

Shiro started, “You want me to go with you?”

“Well it would be more efficient than going all the way back to the Blade of Marmora headquarters and trying to find a new team,” Keith explained. “I mean, I already know I work well with you. If you still want to explore strange new worlds…”

“Keith, did you just quote Star Trek to me,” Shiro asked distracted.

Keith ducked his head, “Yeah, you love Star Trek.”

“Yeah but you hate Star Trek, you said it was cheesy,” Shiro teased.

“Well, I don’t have a lot to do while my ship autopilots for months between missions, sometimes I watch it, and maybe it grew on me.” Keith shook his head. "That’s besides the point, Shiro, do you want to go to space with me or not?”

Keith’s tone was bordering on threatening, Shiro found it cute.

“Yes, I would love to help you seek out new life and new civilisation.”

**Author's Note:**

> Alright your wishlist had: trans Keith, hurt/comfort, happy or hopeful endings, romantic dinners in faraway lands, Valentines imagery, fix the ending of s8, alien chocolates, Allura returns, Allurance getting engaged on Valentine’s Day, older Sheith, Shiro getting cared for, and more. I hope this delivered! Sorry if you are just now seeing this I uploaded it wrong and that is a major my bad. I fixed it so here you go!


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